


Room to Breathe

by ViridescentShade



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family Fluff, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Here There Be Swearing, Language, Original Character(s), Spoilers, everyone is going to have a NICE TIME and HEAL from their trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-09-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:40:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26079643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViridescentShade/pseuds/ViridescentShade
Summary: The Umbrella Academy returns to 2019 to find an empty, dusty mansion with portraits of unfamiliar kids on the walls and a series of cryptic notes from a father who has vanished. While they must piece together the changes they have made to the timeline and the paradox of their own existence, that is not the whole story. Between their search for answers and adjusting to their new lives, they find time to rest and become the family they always could have been. An unholy union between a fix-it fic and a fluffy AU made of beach episodes and road trips and family movie nights.
Comments: 27
Kudos: 78





	1. in which klaus has an out-of-body experience

**Author's Note:**

> Big thanks to my friends on the TUA discord for helping me develop and edit this story! Shoutout to @back2the_ocean and @cbuugdrama9 here on ao3, and @3ternalslumber on tumblr~

Time travel with a briefcase was so much more comfortable than the alternative but just as physically disorienting. It reminded Klaus of how it felt to stand up after downing sixteen shots of spiced rum for his “sweet and spicy 16” celebration. He held out his hands to steady himself and blinked to clear the spots in his vision from the bright blue flash. As his sight cleared, his gaze landed on the giant painting. His father had commissioned it shortly after Five’s disappearance, brusquely avoiding any and all questions. Klaus was sure he could reconstruct the stiff, distant look of his (eldest?) brother from memory alone, which is why he was startled to see the wrong familiar face peering coldly out of the dusty frame.

“Uh, guys?” Klaus didn’t take his gaze off the painting, but he slapped at whichever sibling was standing close enough. It turned out to be Diego, who slapped him back before coming to stand beside him.

“Whoa,” Diego said, gesturing to the others. “Is that…”

“Ben,” Vanya said softly, staring up at the portrait.

“I would’ve said ‘dust,’” Klaus said. “Dad went ballistic if there was so much as a smudge on Five’s painting.” He crossed his arms. “Honestly, this is just disrespectful. You should be offended,” he said over his shoulder, directing his words to where his closest and deadest brother liked to lurk. It took a moment before he remembered, before he felt his brother’s absence like a vice around his lungs. He spun and staggered away from the painting, catching himself on the dusty sofa on his way to the liquor cabinet. It was locked. He knew where his father stored the key, of course, but he needed a drink badly. He wrapped his hand in the dish towel sitting on the bar and swung.

“Jesus, Klaus,” Diego and Luther said in unison. He ignored them and knocked the rest of the glass out of the pane, reaching in to unlock the cabinet. He could almost hear Ben’s nagging as he grabbed a massive bottle of gin. Almost. He unscrewed the cap, tilted his head back, and drank deeply.

“Hey,” Vanya said, appearing at his side and placing a hand on his shoulder.

Klaus held up a finger and continued drinking for a few more seconds before cradling the bottle to his chest. It clinked against Dave’s dog tags and he winced. “Bleh, tastes like licking a tree,” he said, pulling a face and making up a plausible reason for his discomfort. “What’s up?”

“I’m so sorry,” she said, expression pained. “If-if it wasn’t for me—”

“Hey, no,” Klaus said, putting the hand not holding the bottle on top of hers. “Don’t go there, okay? He was technically already gone, right?” Klaus took another swig of the bottle before extending it to her. “Besides, according to Dad, it was our fault the first time around.”

Before Vanya could respond, there was a sharp pop and a flash of light beside them. Five grabbed the bottle from Klaus’s hands and took a large drink, grimacing. “Okay, so it looks like we really messed up the timeline,” he said, handing the gin back to Klaus. “Did you notice all the other portraits?”

“What, do we all have evil goatees or something?” Klaus spun on his heel and sauntered back over to his other siblings in the main area of the living room. Allison was seated on the sofa, hugging herself. Diego had wandered closer to the large portrait of Ben and was studying it carefully. Luther stood alone in the center of the room, looking lost.

“Hey, the logo is different,” Diego said, pointing up at the embroidered emblem on the painted Ben’s uniform.

“So are all the other people, idiot,” Five said, popping back to stand beside his brother. “Or am I the only one looking at the _other_ pictures?” He popped over to one of the family portraits on the wall. “See?” he said, gesturing upwards. “Aside from Ben, it’s all different people.”

“And a cube,” Luther said, walking over. “That’s weird.”

“Don’t judge their body,” Klaus said, flopping down on the couch beside Allison. “Gin?”

“Gross,” she said, pushing the bottle back towards him. He shrugged and took another drink. “So wait, do we not exist anymore?”

“Looks like Dad picked some other kids,” Luther said, examining the pictures closely.

“Gee, I wonder why? After meeting all of us, I’m surprised he went ahead with the idea at all,” Diego said.

“Maybe he didn’t realize it was his fault we’re all so fucked up,” Klaus said.

“How are we here, then?” Allison asked. Five turned to look at her, tilting his head to the side. “I mean if Dad never adopted all of us, then doesn’t that make all of this a paradox?”

“It’s complicated,” Five said, popping up right in front of the couch. Klaus jumped, spilling gin on himself.

“Jesus, be careful, old man,” Klaus said, shaking the alcohol off his hands.

Five rolled his eyes. “Our presence back in the 1960s seems to have thrown off the timeline completely,” he said, starting to pace. Klaus tuned him out, taking another drink before putting the bottle on the ground in front of him. He leaned back against the couch cushions, tilting his head back to stare up at the ceiling. The whole living room looked like it hadn’t been touched in months, and the Academy, in general, wasn’t a source of warm fuzzy memories for any of them, but Klaus felt comforted by the semi-familiar surroundings. Even if everything was slightly wrong, slightly different from his home, it at least felt closer than the mansion he’d been living in with his cult. He felt his heart rate slowing, soothed by the gin and the now-familiar sound of Five’s rambling and irritated explanations. He sunk further into the couch, eyes closing, his slow heartbeat lulling him down into—

It stopped. Klaus’s eyes flashed open and he gasped for air, thumping his still chest with his fist. His siblings gathered around him, concerned faces swimming in his dimming vision. He could hear their voices but couldn’t understand what they were saying. Suddenly Luther’s face loomed large above him and he saw his largest sibling’s hands reach towards him before he was replaced by Vanya and her long dark hair blended into the edges of Klaus’s narrowing view and he felt something crack in his chest and he was in the dark and cold and lonely but no, he wasn’t alone, he could see a little girl on a bicycle and a figure outlined in cool blue before it all faded away.

Klaus drew in a deep, shuddering breath. He heard his family make a collective sigh of relief and grimaced. “Did I just get poisoned or something? Because that would be a new low, even for Dad.”

“We have no idea,” Allison said, brushing his hair away from his sweaty forehead. “Five was trying to explain where we are, exactly—”

“Alternate timeline is the short answer,” Five said.

“You couldn’t’ve given us the short answer in the first place?” Allison shook her head in annoyance. “Anyway, you kind of seized up, and you weren’t breathing.”

“I was going to give you CPR,” Luther said. He handed Klaus a glass of clear liquid that he desperately hoped was more alcohol. He took a sip of it and grimaced, letting it pour out of his mouth and back into the cup. It was water.

“I told him that might not be the best idea, considering his strength,” Allison said. “We wanted you breathing, not turned into a pancake.”

“Hey,” Luther said, without any real venom in his voice. “And you, drink the water.”

“You’re not my mom,” Klaus said. “Besides, there’s spit in this one now.” Luther silently handed him another glass of water. “Ugh, fine.”

“Wait, where is Mom?” Diego said, apparently to himself. He broke away from the group, wandering towards the main corridor.

“I ended up giving you CPR,” Vanya said, looking paler than usual. “I’m sorry, I think I heard something crack anyway.”

“You started glowing,” Five said, cutting in. “Was it something to do with your powers? Did you see anything?”

“I started glowing after a crack?” Klaus chugged the rest of the water and grinned. “Sounds like we just found out I’m part glow stick.”

Five glowered. “This is serious, you moron. Your heart stopped. You died.”

Klaus waved a hand. “It’s not that serious, it’s happened before.” At the blank looks from his siblings, he elaborated. “At the rave? When I tried to fetch Luther? I got knocked on my ass and hit my head and I died.”

There was a beat of silence. Then a cacophony of overlapping responses started, ranging from a simple befuddled “ _What?_ ” from Luther to concern from Allison and Vanya to Five’s predictable lack of compassion.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” he asked, storming up to Klaus and getting right in his face.

Klaus looked down at the livid face of his brother and did his best to look innocent. “I did! That was when I met Dad, and he told me all that stuff about my potential and killing himself and sending Luther to the moon—”

“Dad killed himself?” Vanya said, shocked.

“Yeah and also—”

“You never mentioned that you fucking _died_ ,” Five said. “That’s important information, Klaus.”

“If everyone’s going to keep interrupting me, I might as well not explain at all,” Klaus said, crossing his arms. Five rolled his eyes but gestured for him to continue. “Alright, so when I died before, all I really remember is talking to Dad in a barbershop, kind of like in a dream. But I feel like there was something that happened before that, that I can’t quite—”

“Uh, guys?” Diego’s call rang out from the hallway. “You need to come out to the courtyard, now.”

Klaus threw up his hands in annoyance. “Fine, alright, I give up.” He stood up from the couch, stretching his back and trying not to show how much his chest ached. He didn’t want to hurt Vanya’s feelings. Besides, as much fun as he had complaining about the little things, he rarely spoke up about the things that actually bothered him. Although, he thought to himself as he followed his siblings out into the hallway, things had been changing a lot recently. Maybe he wouldn’t get brushed off anymore.

“Alright, so what’s the big deal out here?” Luther said, pushing the door open. He stopped in the doorway, silhouetted for a moment against what little light made it past his enormous frame. Then he rushed outside, leaving the others blinking in the sudden daylight.

“Help me get him out!” Klaus heard Diego’s shout before he fully processed what he was seeing. There was no statue in the courtyard, but there was a familiar figure in a dirty black hoodie in a small crater of upturned soil. Diego was on his hands and knees, digging away the dirt around the figure’s legs. When Luther reached the pair, he hooked his arms beneath the person’s armpits and yanked them upwards like he was pulling a carrot. As the legs came free of the soil, the hood fell back.

Klaus ran. He tripped over clods of dirt and the uneven rocks of the pathway but he didn’t care, he kept running. He leapt up to clasp Ben — wonderful, nagging, miraculous Ben — and Luther, who was still holding his twice-departed brother, in a tight hug. A moment later, he felt the rest of the family join in. Even little number Five, who hated physical affection even before he was traumatized by a lifetime of apocalyptic loneliness and contract murders, joined in. Words were being said, expressions of confusion and amazement and joy, but Klaus didn’t think anyone was actually paying attention. Ben was here, he was real and corporeal and alive, and they could tackle the questions of how and why later, much later. For now, for the whole family, only one thing mattered: their brother was home.


	2. in which ben receives a gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone up there hates Klaus, but She is much fonder of Ben.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks again to @back2the_ocean for betaing!

Ben was surprised to find himself lying in the center of a clearing, blinking up at an impossibly blue sky. He sat up slowly. The grass was dotted with tiny wildflowers and patches of clover, and the woods lining the clearing seemed to go back forever. A path started at the edge of the grass and twisted away through the trees, the sunlight filtering through the leaves to dapple the rich dirt. He stood up and felt a cool breeze on his face. It was blowing from the direction of the forest path, bringing a sweet and familiar scent that he couldn’t quite identify.

“Huh,” he said. “Don’t really know what I expected.” He walked around the perimeter of the clearing a few times, his suspicions slowly easing. He couldn’t hear anything but the soft rustling of leaves in the breeze, and no matter how hard he stared at the shadows in the trees, none of them moved.

After his fourth loop, he stopped in front of the path. He stuck his hands in the pockets of his hoodie and rocked back on his heels. “Hello?” he called out. “If this is a trap of some kind, I’d like to know now.” He cocked his head to the side, listening intently for any kind of response. The silence stretched on. Ben felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle. Something was off. He looked up at the sky again, the impossibly blue sky, and it clicked. He could feel the warmth of the sunlight on his skin, could see it shining down through the leaves, but the sky was completely empty. There was no sun.

Ben backed away from the path, returning to the center of the clearing. “Klaus?” His voice sounded small, uncertain. Childish.

“No.” A young girl peered at him from the edge of the forest, straddling a bicycle. She had a basket on the front with flowers in colors that Ben didn’t recognize. “He’s not allowed here.”

Ben approached the girl cautiously, keeping back a few feet. “Why not?”

She met his gaze with eyes the same impossible blue as the wide, empty sky. “I don’t like him.” She smiled, and it didn’t reach those eyes. “I like you, though. You could’ve come here long ago, but you didn’t. You chose them over all of this.”

Ben looked down at his feet. “They’re my family,” he said. The girl said nothing. After a few moments, he added in a quiet voice, “I wasn’t ready to leave.”

She tilted her head to the side. “Are you ready now?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Maybe.” Ben’s head snapped up in surprise at her response, and the girl smiled again. “I told you, I like you.”

“I-I don’t-” Ben stepped forward, right up to where the grass met the trees. “What do you mean?”

She sighed. “This is an unusual circumstance. It’s not often I have this opportunity, and even less often that I want to make the offer.” She pulled a flower from her basket and smoothed her fingers over the petals. “Your situation is unique. I can return you to them—properly,” she said, grimacing at the last word. “It won’t be easy on him, or you.” She looked back up at Ben, her expression serious. “And the next time you go, you’re coming right here. He won’t be able to reach you. Do you understand?”

Ben’s mind was reeling, but he nodded. “I think so,” he said. “How is this even possible?”

She waved a hand dismissively. “It’s all very complicated. The little mean one can explain it to you if you like. I just need an answer.” She placed the flower back in her basket carefully and leaned on the handlebars of her bicycle. “So are you taking the offer?”

Ben peered behind her, along the path, trying to see its end. But it twisted away, the destination obscured by the trees. He couldn’t even tell how long it was. The breeze ruffled his hair and he inhaled its achingly sweet scent, closing his eyes.

It would be easier to stay, he was sure. There was no guarantee that things would be better, that he’d be able to get through to Klaus, that he’d be able to help his family. He hadn’t wanted to go, to be ripped away from them so harshly, but now that he knew what that pain was like he almost couldn’t bear the thought of facing it again. He felt himself waver. Then he remembered how happy Diego had been for even a moment with him. He remembered those promising years of sobriety, and he knew that Klaus could do it again. He remembered that final hug with Vanya, in her nightmarish hallucination, how she’d held him tight as he faded away, the two of them clinging together like the world was ending.

Ben took a deep breath, steeling himself. He knew what his answer was. He looked up and met the girl’s eyes, and could see that she knew it too.

“You sure?” she asked. He nodded. “There’s no going back on this one. When you come back here, you’re back for good.”

“I know,” he said.

“Alright.” She got off the bicycle and smoothed out her skirt before approaching him. They were almost toe to toe, and he looked down at her. Her face was partially covered by the shade from the trees, the shadows shifting as the leaves rustled in the breeze. “Ready?”

“Yes.” The word had barely left his lips before Ben felt the world twist sharply. He wanted to look around but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the girl’s face. Waves of dizziness hit him as he stared into her eyes, wide and blue and empty. They were all he could see, and he realized they were that impossible sky stretching out forever, clear and beautiful and terrifying all at once. He found himself tilting forward, tumbling into her eyes that were the sky that was her eyes that were endless that were nothing that was the end that was black.

Ben could taste dirt in his mouth and he couldn’t see anything. His arms were outstretched above him, and he could feel warmth on his fingers. He was underground. He clawed frantically at the dirt, trying to pull himself upwards. His lungs burned, and he wanted to scream out at the unfairness of returning him to life just to stick him in the ground to die again. But he could feel the dirt shifting, and as he freed his head he spat the dirt out and gasped, sucking in precious air. He was in the courtyard of the mansion, where his statue should have been. He scrabbled at the ground around his shoulders, trying to free his torso.

“Oh my god!” He heard Diego’s shout and craned his neck to try and see his brother. “What the hell?” Diego reached Ben and fell to his knees next to him, scooping handfuls of dirt away from him. “What is _happening_? Jesus.”

“Diego?” Ben croaked, slowing his own efforts.

“Don’t worry, buddy, I’ll get help.” Diego ran back to the door and shouted down the hallway, “Uh, guys? You need to come to the courtyard, now.” He hurried back to his mostly-buried brother. As he dug enough to uncover Ben’s chest, he said, “It’s okay, we’ll get you out. How are you even here?”

Before he could respond, Luther came charging across the courtyard. He grabbed Ben under the armpits and pulled him up out of the ground and into the sunlight. As he held Ben aloft, clumps of dirt falling away from his jeans, he could see all of his siblings running towards him. Klaus led the charge, colliding with Ben and Luther with a surprising impact given his slight build.

There were so many things Ben wanted to say, to explain, but his siblings enveloped him in a group hug the likes of which he’d never experienced before. Tears spilled out of him, leaving muddy tracks down his face. He buried his face in Luther’s broad chest and laughed and cried, feeling the warmth of his family surrounding him.

He didn’t know how much time passed like that. Five was the first to break away, predictably. He teleported out of the group hug in a flash of light and looked on from a few feet away. Slowly, everyone else extricated themselves until they were all standing awkwardly in the ruined courtyard. Luther placed Ben gently on the ground and backed away. Diego quickly wiped his eyes and swiped his arm under his nose. Allison patted her cheeks with her fingertips, and Luther sniffled. Vanya smiled at Ben with watery eyes, and he responded with a grin of his own as he wiped away his tears. Klaus was an absolute mess, as usual, which made Ben chuckle.

“You look worse than when you went on that two-week bender in Akron,” Ben said, grinning.

“Hey! We said we’d never talk about that,” Klaus said, pointing an accusatory finger at his brother. Then his arm dropped limply to his side. “Wait, it’s actually you? Like the _you_ you!”

“Uh, yeah,” Ben said. “Who else would it be?”

A blanket, glass of water, and several minutes of a confusing Five rant later, Ben was sitting on the couch staring at a portrait of himself in disbelief. “So none of you guys are part of this new academy.”

“Well technically it’s not new, it’s around thirty years old,” Five said, “but yes.”

“But I am?”

“We don’t know if it’s you, exactly. But again, yes.” Five poured himself a glass of whiskey and drained half of it. “Dad seems to have been put off by meeting all of us. But he didn’t meet you, so I guess you still made the cut.”

“Wait, were you there?” Allison asked.

Ben glared at Klaus, who was suddenly very interested in the hem of his sleeve. “Yes,” he said, “I was.”

Diego shook his head. “You’re so full of shit, Klaus.” He whipped a couch cushion at Klaus, hitting him square in the face.

“Ow!” Klaus held the pillow to his chest, pouting. “We agreed when we were ten that you couldn’t use your powers in pillow fights,” he said. A second pillow followed the first, this time missing Klaus’s face by a fraction of an inch. “Now that’s just petty.”

Ben wanted to laugh, but he felt more exhausted than he’d ever thought possible. His bones ached, his eyes were drooping, his fingers hurt from clawing his way out of the ground. He could barely lift his head. He yawned loudly, catching the attention of his siblings.

“I second that,” Vanya said, covering her mouth to yawn. “Guys, it’s been a really long apocalypse. Maybe we should get some rest?”

“Where?” Allison asked. “I mean I’m all for going to sleep, but we don’t actually have rooms here. And I’m not sure I like the idea of sleeping in some random person’s bed.” She shivered. “It would feel too creepy.”

“Would the Cube even have a room?” Klaus asked, casting a glance at the group portrait.

“If Dad knew we were coming, maybe he thought of that too,” Luther said, standing up from the armchair he’d been sinking into. “Maybe there are rooms made up for each of us.”

“Screw that,” Diego said. “I’m sick of Dad being one step ahead of us. I say we find the linen closet and set up our own rooms for the night.”

Five snapped his fingers. “For once, you have a point. We can figure out what Dad’s game is without playing into the old man’s hand.”

“Alright,” Luther said. “But what if our rooms are already occupied?”

They all paused for a moment, thinking about this. Then Vanya spoke up. “There’s no reason we have to go back to our old rooms, is there?”

Luther blinked. “I didn’t even think of that, but you’re right. I guess we can just pick any rooms we want?”

“Great,” Klaus said, yanking off his shirt and dropping it on the floor. “You guys go do that, I’m fine right here.” He patted the couch cushions. “I’ve crashed here so many times it might as well be my room.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “Come on, Klaus, you should sleep in an actual bed.”

“Make me,” Klaus said, flopping face down onto the couch. After a beat, he bolted upright. “Oh my god, you actually _can_.” He clasped his hands in front of his mouth, eyes welling up. “I’m so happy I don’t even care that you’re bullying me.” He stood and grabbed his shirt, slinging it over his shoulder and sauntering out of the living room.

“How am I bullying you?” Ben hurried after him. “I just think you should sleep in a real bed, with real sheets, like a real person.”

“You have so many expectations, Benji-boy,” Klaus said, poking his head in each room they passed. “I would’ve thought you’d learn by now that I relish in limboing under them.”

“Just find us some rooms, okay? I’m going to go shower.”

“Alright, alright, whatever,” Klaus said, waving Ben off. “You should, you’re filthy.”

The shower was the best one that Ben had ever had. He reveled in the hot water, sniffed every single soap and shampoo along the edge of the large tub, and scrubbed at his skin and hair until all the dirt was gone and he was bright pink. He wrapped one towel around his head and the other around his waist and made his way down the hall to find Klaus. On the way, he peeked in the other rooms and found each of his siblings. Luther lay on his back on top of the covers, one arm tossed over his face. Allison was in the room next to him, curled around a large pillow. One door was locked, and Ben assumed Five was in that one. Diego was sprawled out on his stomach, feet sticking out from the blanket and one arm trailing down to the floor. He held a knife loosely and snored. Only the top of Vanya’s hair was visible from beneath a pile of blankets.

Finally Ben found Klaus in a room that was clearly already occupied, but that had two beds in it. There were some posters on the walls; they were mostly of the human body but there were a few band posters mixed in. Against the back wall was a large vanity, the mirror surrounded by lights. A life-size anatomical model, half skeleton and half muscles and organs, loomed in the corner. Klaus was asleep on one of the beds, twisted in a position that looked incredibly uncomfortable. Ben sat down on the other bed. Somewhere in the house, a grandfather clock chimed. His mind raced, overwhelmed with everything that had happened recently.

“Ugh,” he said softly, collapsing backward. He turned onto his side, curling up and looking at Klaus. “I’m never going to fall asleep,” he whispered to himself. But the bed was soft and comfortable, and the pillow was just right, and in a few short minutes he was proved wrong.


	3. in which reggie’s study has some unwelcome visitors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to my pals on the TUA discord, @back2the_ocean here on AO3 and @3ternalslumber on tumblr, for betaing this chapter!

In the early hours of April 3rd, 2019, Reginald Hargreeves’ private study had a number of uninvited guests. Some of them took things, some left things, and some simply rifled through the papers on his desk and in his filing cabinet. All these invasions were recorded by the security camera above the door, the microphone hidden in the desk lamp, and the camera stuffed inside the taxidermied raven on the shelf behind his desk. The footage was collected via a closed circuit and stored on a tape in a secret room beneath the stairs for later viewing.

**3:17 AM**

A young boy in a school uniform appeared in the center of the room following a flash of light that washed out the feed for a moment. He looked directly at the camera above the door and raised a hand in a salute before a second flash of light whited out the footage. When the feed resumed, he was behind the desk examining the newspaper clippings that covered the wall. He stood there for several minutes. The alternate view captured by the raven showed his eyes darting rapidly, lips barely moving as he read through the articles. He squinted at the photos, leaning closer. Then he spun away, leaning against the desk.

“Jesus, Dad, you couldn’t just wait for us?” He slumped down, head in his hands. “It’s always something,” he muttered, almost too quiet for the microphone to detect. The boy remained still for a moment before sighing. He turned back to the wall, the raven camera picking up a lost and forlorn expression. Then his face hardened, looking far older than his years. He grabbed a pen from the shelf and a pad of paper from the desk drawer and scribbled a long note. Creasing it sharply, he labeled the outside with a large number five and a drawing of an umbrella before dropping paper and pen onto the desk. Another flash of light, and the study was empty once more.

**3:42 AM**

The door was flung open by a young man in tight black pants with multiple tattoos on his arms and torso. He sauntered into the center of the room and hopped up on the desk, sitting on top of a number of important folders. Legs swinging, he looked directly at the camera above the door and waved a hand. The word “HELLO” was written on the palm. He then made an obscene gesture at the camera before turning to look at the papers on the desk, humming just loud enough for the microphone to catch. He picked up the note that had been left by the previous intruder, turning it over in his hands. He placed it back on the desk without opening it and chuckled.

“Alright, Daddy dearest, let’s see if you keep the goods in the same place in this universe,” he said, rubbing his hands together. Flopping down in the desk chair, he went directly to the second drawer from the bottom on the left side. The view of the cameras were obscured by his mass of unruly hair, but there was an audible thump. He resurfaced, several valuable items clutched in his hands. The thief placed his haul on the desk and turned his attention to the shelf. He stuck his tongue out at the raven as he pressed down on a bronze plaquette depicting a ship in a roiling thunderstorm. This released a portion of the shelf, and he pulled it out like a drawer. From this drawer, the thief took multiple stacks of cash and stuck them in the waistband of his pants. Whistling, he pushed the drawer back in, picked up the valuables from the desk, and sauntered back to the door. Before he left, he looked up at the camera and waved again, with his other hand. This hand had “GOODBYE” tattooed on the palm.

**3:48 AM**

Shortly after the thief left the room, a slight, pale woman with long dark hair entered. She moved with more hesitation than the previous two, hugging herself and glancing around the room as though she expected someone to emerge at any moment. After wandering aimlessly about the study, she moved behind the desk to look at the articles on the wall. The camera in the raven caught her puzzled expression at one of the photographs, and she moved closer.

“Harlan?” Her expression changed to shock. She took down one of the framed newspaper photos, taking out the clipping. She stared down at it for a few moments before rushing out of the room clutching the photo, dropping the empty frame onto the chair.

**5:23 AM**

Epsilon entered the study tentatively, wearing a black shirt and a pair of dirty black jeans. He approached the desk, moving the empty frame off the chair and placing it on the shelf before sitting down. The raven camera captured a close shot of his face. His hair was shorter, pushed back from his forehead, and he was clean shaven. Peculiarly, his facial scar was missing.

He rolled the chair over to the filing cabinet and pulled out a number of classified folders, spreading them out on the desk. He flipped through each one quickly, muttering to himself, “We didn’t even get names in this universe?” After checking all the folders he picked one of them and spread the contents out across the desk. “Huh, I’m Epsilon. I guess it does sound cooler than ‘Number Six.’” He spent several minutes poring over the contents of his file, reading the notes made by Reginald Hargreeves concerning his training and abilities. He then gathered the papers, placing them back into the folder, and returned all the folders to the filing cabinet.  
Epsilon stood, dusting off his jeans before shoving his hands into his pockets. With a glance at the dawn light peeking through the blinds, he exited the study.

**6:02 AM**

A tall man in exercise clothes with anatomically unlikely proportions entered the room, turning sideways so his broad shoulders could fit through the doorway. He strode straight to the window and opened the blinds, flooding the study with the morning sunlight. The behemoth stood and looked out at the interior courtyard, sipping from a steaming mug. After a few minutes, he moved to stand in front of the desk. He placed the mug on a coaster and stared at the portrait of Reginald Hargreeves behind the desk, clasping his hands behind his back.

He cleared his throat. “Hey Dad,” he said, voice hesitant. “I’m not really sure what’s going on here—none of us are, even Five. The mansion looks like it’s been empty for months, but there’s no sign of what happened. I’m really confused, and to be honest…” He trailed off, looking up at the ceiling for a moment before continuing. “To be honest, I’m not sure I care anymore.” The giant man began to pace in front of the desk, hands in the pockets of his sweatpants. “I trusted that you knew what was best for us, that you knew what you were doing. I listened to you, I tried to do what you would do, and it ended up hurting my family. My real family. If I had just tried to _help_ , instead of trying to be Number One—” He stopped his pacing and approached the desk, slamming his enormous hands down on the wood. “All of this could’ve been fixed without time travel if I had just realized sooner that I was never going to be good enough for you.” He pointed an accusatory finger at the portrait of Reginald Hargreeves, his expression grim and pained. “I spent four years of my life completely alone, thinking that I was a failure and trying to do right by you. I thought if I could do my mission, if I could prove that I was good enough, you’d let me come home. But it was never about that, was it, Dad?” His arm dropped back to rest at his side, expression cooling from anger to grief to something resembling peace. “You were the failure. You failed all of us.”

The man picked up his mug and stepped back from the table, turning again to the window. He took another long sip. “I don’t know what happened, but I know I’m done doing things your way.” He rummaged in his pocket, pulling out a small, lumpy, gray object. He held it up to the camera above the door. “This is the first sample I sent you. I found it when I found everything, and I held onto it because I couldn’t understand. I understand now.” He dropped the object onto the desk. “I’m done doing things your way.” The giant man left the room, closing the door behind him.

As the sun emerged fully from behind the horizon, Reginald Hargreeves’ study was finally empty. The recordings of the intruders were accessed remotely from an undisclosed location a few days later. Following this viewing the files were locked, and a delivery was set en route for the no-longer-empty mansion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I got some times wrong as far as sunrise goes, please forgive me; I grew up in Alaska and I'm not used to "normal" sunrise/sunset times. Thank you to all who've read, commented, and left kudos! I hope you're all enjoying this so far~


	4. in which the author is heavily influenced by tales of ba sing se (pt 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks as always to my friends on the TUA discord, esp @back2the_ocean, for helping beta this chapter! Sorry it took a while to post, I was going to post the whole thing as one chapter but it got real long so I'm going to post it in sections. Part two is Allison, Klaus, and Vanya, and part 3 will be Five and Ben!

It all started at breakfast. Klaus sat cross legged on the kitchen table, eating handfuls of stale cereal from the box in his lap. Allison and Five had gone out to get coffee, returning with a bag of assorted pastries and a tray of drinks that smelled heavenly. Ben grabbed a cup and a donut and sat in the chair closest to Klaus, making little contented noises every time he took a bite or sip. Vanya was the last to make her way to the kitchen, clutching a newspaper clipping.

“What’s that?” Klaus asked around a mouthful of cereal.

“I found it in Dad’s study,” she said, holding the clipping up with a trembling hand. They all gathered closer, peering at the black and white photograph. It showed their dad shaking hands with a middle-aged man in front of an ornate building, both smiling at the camera. The new Academy kids could be seen standing at attention on the steps in the background. The caption identified the other man as—

“Harlan _Hargreeves_?” Allison said, shocked. “Do you think it’s the same Harlan?”

Vanya nodded. “I can’t really explain it, but I feel like it’s definitely him.”

“What’s he doing with Dad?” Diego asked, frowning.

“And why did he change his last name?” Allison added.

Vanya shrugged, putting the clipping into the back pocket of her pants. “Maybe Sissy changed it so they could hide, I don’t know.” She looked at her siblings, expression pleading. “I have to try and find him, you guys.”

“We can try looking him up at the library,” Allison said, putting her hand on Vanya’s shoulder. “I mean that’s how I found out about…” She trailed off.

“Leonard,” Vanya said. She gave her sister a wan smile. “It’s okay, I won’t go all murdery just from hearing his name, I promise.”

“I’ll help you out,” Klaus said, hopping down from the table and stretching. “I’ve got some things I could look into, too.” He knew it was a long shot that Dave would be alive, but they’d changed the timeline so much already. Surely, there had to be a chance that he’d survived the war? Klaus needed to find him again, even if it was only his grave.

“I can’t go with you guys, but maybe there’s a way I can help.” Diego turned to Five, grinning. “Hey Five, do you know how to get in touch with the Commission? I want to talk to Herb.”

Five took a swig of coffee and grimaced. “This goes against my better judgement, but with the Handler gone they agreed to stop messing with us. I’ll give them a call and see if he’ll stop by. I need to talk to him about the apocalypse situation, anyway.”

“I’m going to stay here,” Ben said. The others turned to look at him, and he looked apologetic. “It’s not that I don’t want to help, it’s just...this is all pretty overwhelming. And I want to find out more about this timeline, and why I’m still here.”

“Of course,” Vanya said. She smiled. “Let us know what you find, okay?”

From there, Klaus stopped paying attention, choosing instead to disappear to take a bubble bath. Luckily, this Academy had a bunch of fancy soaps, and he spent a lot of time figuring out which ones he wanted to use. He emerged, fragrant, wrapped in a giant fluffy towel, just in time to see Herb waving goodbye to Diego before vanishing in a blue light.

“What was all that about?” he asked, wrapping his hair up in a second towel.

“Diego just convinced Herb to give us a briefcase for personal use,” Five growled through clenched teeth, looking murderous.

“Chill out,” Diego said. “He had the R&D guys modify it. It only travels in space, not time. Perfectly safe.”

“Perfectly—?” Five choked off his own retort with a scoff, blinking a few feet away and pacing angrily. “Just because you idiots can’t mess with the timeline doesn’t mean you won’t screw anything up.”

“It’s fine, Five,” Vanya said, holding up a hand to stop his pacing. “We won’t use it unless it’s absolutely necessary, right?” A chorus of “yeah, sure” responses came from the gathered siblings, and Vanya smiled. “It’ll be alright,” she said.

Five pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering something under his breath that Klaus couldn’t quite catch. Whatever it was, he was sure it wasn’t good. “Fine, whatever. Everybody just go away so that Ben and I can investigate the Academy and find out what we screwed up this time.”

“We should get supplies,” Luther said, swatting Diego gently on the arm with the back of his giant hand.

“Yes, do that,” Five said, turning away and waving a hand dismissively. “Go, get out of here.”

“Uh, alright.” Diego said. “I’ll check to see if the car keys are in the same spot.”

“Here,” Klaus said, slipping Luther a wad of cash from the stash he’d liberated from Dad’s study. “Get us some good stuff, alright? We’ve been working on a list, it’s in the kitchen.”

“Um.” Luther looked down at the rubber-banded stack of money, brow knitting in confusion and concern. “Yeah, okay.”

With that, the siblings scattered for the day. Luther and Diego headed for the grocery store in the car they found in the garage; Klaus, Vanya, and Allison took a cab to the library to see what they could dig up on those they’d left behind in the 1960s, Klaus carrying the briefcase from Herb in case they needed it; Ben and Five stayed behind in the mansion, each with their own motivation to explore exactly what was going on with this new Academy.

**ONE AND TWO**

“Why did we get stuck running errands?” Diego crossed his arms, scowling at the tile floor of the supermarket.

“Come on, it’s not so bad,” Luther said. His broad shoulders took up most of the aisle as he pushed the shopping cart along. “Here, help me with the list.” He handed Diego a scrap of paper.

His sulking brother took it and scanned the items quickly, expression changing from annoyance to interest. “Did Five really put coffee on here three different times?” He held out the paper for Luther to see. “How funny would it be if we got him decaf?”

Luther laughed. The shopping list was written in several different types of writing, but he could pick out Five’s distinct impatient scrawl. His eldest-youngest brother had indeed written “COFFEE” in three places. It was the first and last item on the list and was underlined several times. “Maybe we’ll just get him three different kinds?” He glanced over at his brother, who looked disappointed. “One of them can be decaf.”

“Alright!” Diego pumped a fist in the air and set off with purpose. “Let’s find the coffee aisle.” Luther trailed after him, trying to steer the cart and himself around the other people in the store.

They ended up getting five different varieties of coffee, along with a strange machine that promised to brew the perfect cup every time. Diego scoffed at it and insisted that plain beans were sufficient, considering the grinder and press they had at home, but Luther was enchanted. It reminded him of the machines he’d been surrounded by on the lunar base, and he slipped it into the cart while Diego was sniffing different roasts with a serious consideration that he’d never admit.

“Come on, it even has a little face!” Luther said when Diego noticed and complained, pointing at the box. The coffee machine had a display screen above the spigot, and the specs on the box claimed that it would show a smiley face when the coffee was finished. “I’m pushing the cart, so I get to choose what goes in it.”

Diego groaned and rolled his eyes, but relented. “Fine, whatever. That thing better make great coffee.” He finished dispensing the last variety of coffee beans into the bag and folded it carefully, tossing it into the cart with the others. “Do we even have the cash for it?”

“Yeah, we’ve got plenty,” Luther said, patting the interior breast pocket of his jacket. Klaus had pressed a wad of crisp $20 bills into his hand that morning, saying nothing about where he’d gotten the money. Luther hadn’t wanted to press the matter and had waited until Klaus left with his sisters to count it. After tallying up almost $300 in cash, he was more concerned about where his brother got the money but decided he wanted to know even less. Despite his general delinquency and hedonistic lifestyle, Klaus always seemed to land on his feet. At least this time, he was sharing the money and using it for things like food and supplies for the family rather than spending it on his many vices.

Luther and Diego made their way through the store, picking up the rest of the items on the list. Along with basic meal prep items, there were organic snacks and fancy soaps for Allison, fresh fruit for Ben, and chocolates for Klaus and Vanya.

Diego grabbed a couple of tubs of protein powder for himself, saying, “Some of us have to actually _work_ for our bodies.” In retaliation, Luther scooped several boxes of cookies into the cart with one swipe of his giant arm, staring his brother down as he did so. Diego snorted. “If you think those are going to last more than a day in the house with everyone around, you’re going to be disappointed.”

“I’ll hide them somewhere,” Luther said, grinning.

“What, in that ‘secret’ spot in the back of the greenhouse?”

Luther felt his grin slip away. “How do you know about that?”

“Dude,” Diego said, placing a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “We all knew about it. You just usually didn’t store shit that we wanted. And when you did, we’d only take a bit at a time. You honestly never noticed?”

Luther stared, mouth agape. “Are you serious? So that time I thought Dad found my stash—”

“You had a bunch of king-size chocolate bars,” Diego said, shrugging. “We’re only human.”

“I was anxious for like a week!” Luther bumped the cart against Diego’s heels as his brother laughed. “I kept thinking Dad was going to yell at me, and he kept acting like he had no idea!”

“Sorry, bro, the siren call of chocolate was too strong.” His brother turned to him, grinning. “In a similar vein, you shouldn’t store your diary under the record player.”

“Okay, first of all, it was a _journal_!”

The pair continued their bickering as they finished up in the store and headed to the car, drawing strange looks and murmurs from the other shoppers. The level of attention would usually make Luther uncomfortable but he found himself smiling. This felt different from before. Diego’s jabs seemed more good-natured, less pointed, and his brother was actually smiling as they loaded the groceries into the trunk. It had been a very long time since the two of them had interacted this genuinely, without the barbs and venom, without any trace of jealousy or bitterness.

A memory surfaced in Luther’s mind of one of the last times he and Diego had spent time together on good terms. They were young, hadn’t even hit the double digits yet, and it was one of those golden summer afternoons that seemed to stretch on forever. Dad was in an unusually generous mood and let the six of them out into the courtyard to play. Diego was the first to hear it and alerted the others: the plinking music box sound of the ice cream truck making its leisurely way down the block. Luther was hesitant at first, insisting that Dad would be upset if they left the Academy. The others tried to convince him, but it wasn’t until Allison mentioned that she would love a fudgesicle that he got on board. Klaus rushed into the mansion, emerging a few minutes later with a handful of crumpled bills and change. Five snatched the money and teleported away. As they waited, Luther kept a close watch on the window of Dad’s study. Finally, Five returned with his hands full of popsicles and ice cream bars. He’d even grabbed an ice cream sandwich for Vanya and convinced her to join them outside.

The siblings sat in the afternoon sun, enjoying their frozen treats. Luther sat close to Allison and Diego, his gaze still darting between his family and the window of the study. Vanya sat on the ground near the door, picking at the grass idly while she talked to Five. Klaus scarfed down his fudgesicle in record time and was laying on his back next to Ben, whining and asking for a bite of Ben’s ice cream sandwich. Ben was eating deliberately slowly, a mischievous glint in his eyes. At some point Klaus called Allison over, asking her to rumor their brother to give him some ice cream, and she left Diego and Luther alone. The two of them sat shoulder to shoulder, watching their family and chatting quietly.

Had Luther known the bitterness to come, he would have cherished those moments with his brother more. It wasn’t that there was any special closeness, he still felt that Allison was the only one of his siblings that he’d actually bonded with. Rather it was the feeling of comfort that he’d taken for granted. They weren’t One and Two yet, struggling for leadership. They were just brothers, united by their common desire to protect their siblings. The two of them were always the most fiercely defensive, and for a time that made them a team. Luther and Diego together were the shield for their siblings, the first line of defense against their father’s harsh discipline.

Then Diego was injured on a mission. They were supposed to retrieve something for Dad, something that had been stolen many years ago. Diego threw a knife in close quarters and it was deflected by the enemy, spinning away and slicing his brother down the side of his head. Luther didn’t remember how that mission ended. All he could remember was the blood. Diego was patched up by Grace and spent a few days alone in the recovery room. None of the siblings were allowed to visit him, but Dad spent a lot of time in the room with him. After that, everything changed. Diego became quiet, sullen. Instead of teaming up with Luther to protect their siblings, he railed against Number One’s authority. He took every opportunity to undermine Luther and tear him down. Luther was hurt by this at first but hardened to it over time. Soon Diego’s jabs were met in kind, and the mutual understanding they’d shared was fractured, replaced by a caustic rivalry. It ate away at the friendship between the two until all that was left was bitter disdain.

“Hey, big guy.” Diego’s words startled Luther out of his reverie and he looked up to see his brother staring at him, arms folded and eyebrows raised. “You gonna put away that cart, or are we taking it home with us?”

“Oh, right,” Luther said, unclenching his hands from the push bar of the cart and flexing his fingers. “Sorry, I got distracted, give me a second.” He pushed the cart back to the storage area and spent a few seconds retrieving other carts from nearby and putting them away as well. When he returned to the car, Diego was sitting in the front seat.

“You alright?” There was some genuine concern in his brother’s voice, and it warmed Luther’s heart.

“I’m fine, yeah,” Luther said, squishing himself into the passenger seat. “I was just thinking it might be nice to pick up ice cream on the way home.”  
“Bro, we _just_ got done shopping,” Diego said, rolling his eyes. “You couldn’t’ve thought of that in the store?” He sighed, reversing the car out of the parking spot. “Fine, I think I saw a frozen custard place on the way here. Sound good?”

“Sounds great,” Luther said.

After a few moments of silent driving Diego glanced over at him and grinned. “Think they have a coffee flavor for the old man?”

Luther thought for a moment. “Probably. He should really cut back, though. All this caffeine is going to stunt his growth.”

Diego smacked a hand on the dashboard and laughed. “Oh, we _have_ to get it for him now.” The two drove off, their chatter flowing more easily than it had in many years.

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a great many years since I was in the fanfic game (back in the days of ff.net) but I'm back and I'll try to update regularly. Thank you for reading, comments are always appreciated!


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